“Ecosystems, too.”
“If only Red Riding Hood had known. Her story could have had a whole different ending.”
He grinned. A little wolfishly, as it so happened.
She took what looked like a sustaining breath, which made him hope that she’d momentarily lost hers.
She turned her gaze away with apparent reluctance. Dipped her brush in paint again and applied herself to the “O.”
“Now you,” she said softly. “Complicated or simple?”
“Simple,” he said instantly.
“Simple like Lloyd Sunnergren’s dog, Hamburger, or simple like a... mountain?”
“Wow, that’s practically like a Zen koan, that choice.”
“You have to pick one.”
“Mountain. Big and basic,” he said decisively.
“Did you know mountains are created over millennia due to violent underground activity, Gabe? They’re strong and peaceful, but it’s a hard-won peace.”
He went still.
“Damn, woman,” he said finally. Weakly.
If he wasn’t already on his knees he’d be tempted to fall to them in supplication, only half in jest.
She smiled, gave a little shrug. “Annelise had to do a diorama of mountains. Not that I was entirely without knowledge of mountains and how they got there before we did that project.”
“Mountains support ecosystems, too. They have ecosystems alloverthem.”
She laughed at that, that amazing, musical, throaty laugh.
“Okay, so who was your last serious—”
The timer on his phone dinged and he lunged for it. “Oops, gotta get to the board meeting. They need me for a vote.”
He sprang to his feet. “And would you believe it? I’m back on parking monitor duty tomorrow after school. Just for a day.”
There was some solace in the flicker of regret and amused knowing in her eyes, the rueful tilt of the corner of her mouth.
He’d see her tomorrow in the school parking lot. He would wager just about anything on it.
Still. As hard as it was to leave her now, he knew it was only going to get harder.
“Make sure everyone here knows that I painted that beautiful ‘E,’” he added over his shoulder, when he’d gone five steps.
Just for the opportunity to see her one more time.
And to see if she was watching him leave.
She was.
Which made leaving just a little more bearable.
The next day...